Let Trump have his parade, under one condition

Joel Saget / AFP/Getty Images

rench Senate President Gerard Larcher, Brigitte Macron, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump look at members of the 5e Regiment de Cuirassiers as they paticipate in the annual Bastille Day military in Paris on July 14, 2017.

rench Senate President Gerard Larcher, Brigitte Macron, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump look at members of the 5e Regiment de Cuirassiers as they paticipate in the annual Bastille Day military in Paris on July 14, 2017.

President Donald Trump wants a splendid parade of soldiers and weapons down Pennsylvania Avenue, having been inspired by a grand display on his visit to Paris last Bastille Day. His critics think he is behaving like a Latin American strongman. But it’s not the worst use of military personnel and hardware I can think of.

One worse use is the war in Afghanistan, which we’ve been fighting since 2001 only to see success keep eluding us. Under Trump, troops have been put in harm’s way in a host of places, including Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Niger and Somalia. During the campaign, he suggested he would put a stop to such missions. But he hasn’t, having been persuaded of the necessity of perpetual military action hither and yon.

It would be less dangerous and expensive to bring all those forces home and let them march past cheering crowds in the nation’s capital. Granted, there is something a bit unseemly about putting on a show such as those seen in dictatorships. Presidential historian Michael Beschloss told NPR, “To have a military parade without the end of a war or an inaugural or some big reason in Washington, D.C., that is out of our tradition.”

He’s right, but I can remember when the same could be said of those military flyovers at football games, which have become a new tradition. And engaging in undeclared hostilities wherever the president chooses, with hardly any notice from the American public or objection from Congress, is far more at odds with our democratic norms than this event would be.

“We have more important things to do than to focus on a damn parade,” retired Gen. Army Lt. Gen. Mick Bednarek told Politico. “We don't need to spend Americans’ taxpayer dollars laying on a parade.”

But I’m willing to give Trump his parade — with any troops he brings home from combat zones. Taxpayers, rest assured, will come out ahead on the deal.